Unpacking the Truth of Peer Reviews in the Software Industry
I currently feel like the odd one, out. It appears that many people are associating peer review in software with code reviews via pull requests. I don’t, on what side are you?
Even before I transitioned into leadership roles, where coding took on a secondary function, I did not engage in pull requests. In fact, I haven't submitted a pull request in a professional context since 2017.
Leads Horizons is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Peer reviews, also commonly referred to as peer assessments, involve a rigorous and structured process whereby a professional's work or research is evaluated and critiqued by one or more individuals who possess similar competencies, educational background, and expertise. This concept and methodology of peer review originated and took root in the academic sphere, where it is routinely employed as a critical tool to appraise and judge the value of scholarly outputs and research findings.
The primary function of this system is to serve as a form of quality control, significantly bolstering the credibility, reliability, and overall accuracy of the work that is being reviewed. This is achieved by providing an additional level of scrutiny, thereby eliminating any potential errors or oversight that might have been missed by the original author.
